Monday, well-rested. That won't last long.

[lagilman]

As the three of you reading this journal over the weekend know, I hit story-draft for Vineart War #1 on Saturday. Go me! But the Post-Draft Day of Rest is done. Back on the the work-pony.

Oh, but I did want to say something abut the production of The Damnation of Faust at the Metropolitan Opera.

First of all: Faust. Damned difficult thing to stage, and obviously you have to simplify the storyline (which, IMO, loses all the depth of the story and makes it even harder to stage effectively as a logical story) but the end production was fabulous just the same.

The director had worked with Cirque du Solei before, and you could tell: wired acrobatics, high-tech bluescreeen with fore and aft projection, and a multi-level, multi-focus production very much not your grandmother's opera. Staging was magnificent, voices divine, use of technology impressive, and the costuming was brilliantly done -- Mephistopheles' red pleather and goat hair suit gave the very clear 'dragon' resonance (the front of his jacket was molded like a rib cage) but when he was caught in the mirror behind him, the curve of the cap's quail feathers screamed "horned beast." And then he plucked one of those feathers (his 'horn') for Faust to sign the document with... Niiiiiice.

Mephistopheles always steals the show. Always.

Comments

[hilleviw.livejournal.com]

Who sang Mephistopheles? I've been lucky enough to see it with Sam Ramey, at which point you really don't care about the staging, because, well, Sam. Other than Sam, Bryn and Dmitri, I don't really know anymore who the bass/baris to watch are.

'scuse me while I check my program...

[lagilman]

Keeping in mind that I don't know enough about opera to know who's amazing and who is just 'good' -- John Relyea sang M wonderfully, and managed to stay ahead of the staging, rather than being overcome by it. Susan Graham as Margaret (okay, Marguerite) had a completely beautiful voice to listen to, but I didn't get much physical presence from her. Marcello Giordani sang Faust and... I dunno. Perfectly fine but... I didn't carry anything away from his performance.

EtA: oh, and the chorus was amazing. They rocked the house. Er, so to speak.

Re: 'scuse me while I check my program...

[hilleviw.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I used to work for the San Francisco Opera, at which point I paid close attention, but it's been a while. I remember seeing Susan Graham in the premier of Dead Man Walking and thinking just what you've expressed here: a beautiful voice, but not a lot of stage charisma. Of course, for recordings the voice and timing are really all that matter.

(For the record, best opera experience ever: Sam Ramey as the lead in Atilla, in San Francisco. He comes onto the stage for the first time, dressed in nothing but a loin cloth and the house erupts. The orchestra just puts their instruments down for ten minutes while the house hoots, hollers and whistles.)

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

I went to see Faust in Lille. The singing was good to excellent, though I don't know from Adam who was singing. I hated the opera though. It was sooooo sexist. Marguerite was condemned for falling in love with a bastard; she gets abandonned by her family and condemned to hell. Faust, on the other hand, deserves to go to hell, and not one word is spoken against him. I left the Opéra that night foaming at the mouth.